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This story appeared in the Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff. Today I’m focusing on a disastrous meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The hostile conversation had immediate consequences for Ukraine’s […]

A judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration’s directive to fire tens of thousands of workers across the federal government is likely illegal. But it’s not yet clear what that means for current employees, as well as those who were already terminated under the directive.  The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued the orders earlier […]

This is the sixth in a series of stories on how factory farming has shaped the US. Find the rest of the series and future installments here, and visit Vox’s Future Perfect section for more coverage of Big Ag. The stories in this series are supported by Animal Charity Evaluators, which received a grant from Builders Initiative.

More layoffs have hit the federal government, this time at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States’s main weather forecaster and the world’s premier research agency for the seas and the skies.  CBS News reports that 880 employees were cut across NOAA, about 7 percent of the workforce, including earth scientists, meteorologists, computer […]

The Trump administration utterly botched a hyped release of “Jeffrey Epstein files” Thursday, a saga that resulted in disappointment among the MAGA faithful, finger-pointing among Trump aides, and — unsurprisingly — claims of deep state sabotage. Epstein, the well-connected financier who was indicted for sex trafficking underage girls and died in prison in 2019, has […]

The Oscars are upon us again. This year, one of the Best Picture contenders has been dogged by controversy, while in several other categories, the race feels a lot more wide open than in past years.  In order to get a better understanding of what to expect, and to gain some insight into how the Oscars […]

For a decade, my wife’s read receipts have been on without her knowing it. She kept checking her phone’s settings to see if they were turned off, and they were. But every time I sent her a text, I’d see that my message got delivered, and what time she read it. Suffice it to say, […]

This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox’s newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions. In one of Sara Doan’s earliest memories, her mom is asking her to sort laundry. She’s about 6 years old, and as the first child in her conservative Catholic family, she’s already stepped into her role as manager […]

Voters in Germany maintained a few global trends this past weekend: They kicked out incumbents, their youth moved to the right, and they delivered another surprise. Their radical, anti-immigrant party (Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD) finished second, and was likely boosted by some LGBTQ voters. The rightward shift of gay, lesbian, and bisexual voters is […]

This story was originally published in The Highlight, Vox’s member-exclusive magazine. To get early access to member-exclusive stories every month, join the Vox Membership program today. Winter is unavoidable — and for many, the winter blues feel that way, too.  If the thought of shorter, colder days fills you with dread, you’re not alone. According to the […]

This story was originally published in The Highlight, Vox’s member-exclusive magazine. To get early access to member-exclusive stories every month, join the Vox Membership program today. Kylie Kelce was at the top of the charts. The former field hockey coach and NFL royalty had dethroned Joe Rogan in his own domain — and his fans could not […]

Elon Musk’s cut-first, aim-later run through the federal government is predicated on the idea that the nation’s finances are in crisis and that it needs to drastically cut spending to recover. But at least one cut Musk’s team is planning will actually cost the government money, worsening the supposed fiscal crisis that the Trump administration […]

The Logoff is a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff. Today I’m focused on Donald Trump’s mixed messages on the fate of Medicaid, the low-income health insurance program that more than 70 million Americans depend on. […]

After a dramatic week that saw both the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine and an unprecedented flurry of diplomatic activity, it’s becoming possible to see what a real — if far from ideal — agreement to end the bloody conflict might look like. But to know whether an agreement is actually achievable or […]

The proper term for a Supreme Court session where the justices hear verbal presentations by lawyers is an “oral argument,” but Wednesday’s hearing in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services hardly qualified as an argument. Everyone, on every side of the case, agreed that a strange rule governing employment discrimination suits in some parts […]

In early February, Texas health officials reported that measles was spreading among an insular religious community in Gaines County, Texas, where nearly 14 percent of schoolchildren have an exemption (granted in some states for reasons of conscience, including for religious beliefs) from the required childhood vaccinations. The disease has since been detected in a bordering […]

As our planet gets increasingly warmer, we’re seeing in real-time the myriad of ways our climate is changing: unbearably hot summers, extreme cold snaps, and more dangerous natural disasters. And when our environment changes, so do we — especially in regards to our health. Valley fever, a fungal disease that invades our lungs, is one […]

Vox reader Ben Kutcher asks: What happens to the money when I round up at the register? Are these real charities? Who gets credit for the donation? Is there some taxable benefit to companies that offer this? Do they have to provide transparency reports? If you’ve ever been at a grocery store checkout counter and […]

Every morning, when Trudi and Ben Shertzer head to their jobs at the Pittsburgh International Airport, they drop their son Hunter off at a brightly colored child care facility located in a converted flight terminal just a few minutes from the main entrance. Teachers at the child care center take care of their 2-year-old while […]

Will Donald Trump succeed in his long-held goal of weaponizing the Justice Department against his political enemies? Much of the answer will depend on the man he’s appointed to head the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC. That’s longtime conservative activist Ed Martin — or, “Eagle Ed Martin,” per his X handle. Martin has made […]

“Drain the swamp” has long been one of President Donald Trump’s signature slogans. But now that billionaire Elon Musk is orchestrating mass layoffs of federal workers, it’s not clear that rhetoric translates into popular policy. At town halls from Missouri to Georgia to Oklahoma, constituents of Republican lawmakers have shown up to protest Musk and […]

This story was originally published in The Highlight, Vox’s member-exclusive magazine. To get early access to member-exclusive stories every month, join the Vox Membership program today. At this particular moment, I’m feeling a little bad about myself. This profession I’ve chosen — and really, this life that I lead — relies so heavily on attention and metrics […]

This story was originally published in The Highlight, Vox’s member-exclusive magazine. To get early access to member-exclusive stories every month, join the Vox Membership program today. Humans have always tried to glimpse the future. Our methods have improved — from the stars and tarot cards to tremendously complex election forecasts. People love predictions, making them and reading […]

Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) underlings are powering his takeover of the government with a “hardcore” work ethic that sacrifices sleeping for around-the-clock grinding.  Musk boasted that they are working long hours, even over weekends because their “opponents” take that time off. They moved sofa beds into the Office of Personnel […]